Having a healthy pet is every bird owner’s dream. Many of us desire to feed our birds healthy diets, and the common question we happen to come across from many bird owners is; What should I put in my birds’ chop? Seeds don’t constitute a proper diet since they are too high in calories and too low in nutrients; hence, you need to provide a wide variety of foods for your bird.
The following are the steps for preparing bird chop for your cockatiels:
1. Preparation Stage
It entails gathering all the ingredients needed to make your bird chop.
Fresh organic ingredients should be used as they are nutritional.
Properly wash the ingredients to remove any pesticides remaining outside the food.
Also, remove tops, cores, and seeds from vegetables.
2. Cooking Stage
All grains must be cooked a day earlier and added to the chop at the end after all other ingredients have been mixed.
So always cook beans, rice, and pasta in advance.
3. Chopping Stage
The vegetables and fruits are to be chopped into small pieces that are more manageable for your bird to nibble at. The chopping can be done with your hands or a food processor.
4. Mixing Stage
Similar ingredients should be mixed as they are prepared.
The grains should be cooled and washed, the vegetables chopped well, and extra water drained to prevent the chop from being soggy.
What Is Bird Chop?
Chop is a mixture of finely chopped fresh vegetables, fruits, beans, pasta, and grains. The ingredients should be mixed in the right proportions for better results.
Your bird chop should consist of 50% vegetables, 40% cooked grains, and 10% dry ingredients.
It should be chopped, not mashed, for your bird to easily pick up the food.
Why Should You Feed Your Bird Chop?
The following are some of the benefits of feeding your bird chops:
1. Chop is more nutritious and good for your bird than a seed-only diet. Hence, always ensure that you provide your bird with the chop.
2. It provides an easy way to offer a wide variety of foods daily to your bird.
3. Since the food can be frozen, you don’t have to worry about preparing your bird’s food daily.
4. It makes it easy to introduce new foods to your bird. Mixing the new food with the bird’s favorite will make it hard to recognize the difference and get used to the new food’s taste.
5. The food can last all day without wilting.
6. There is less waste as the extra food can be frozen.
What Are the Ingredients in Chop?
1. Cooked Grains and Legumes
The grains that can be used include oats, barley, whole grains, pasta, rice, chickpeas, and beans.
All the grains should be well cooked before mixing them into the chop.
2. Dry Ingredients
Seeds and nuts such as rolled oats, barley, flakes, millet, flaxseed, and crushed nuts can be used.
Their proportion in the mix should be low as compared to other ingredients.
3. Chopped Raw Vegetables
Vegetables form the major portion of the bird chop. All vegetables except onions, avocado, and rhubarb can be used to make a chop.
All the vegetables must be chopped finely but mixed while raw to retain their nutrients.
So, what vegetables are in bird chops?
The following vegetables can be used to make chops:
Kale, broccoli, carrots, beetroot, pumpkin, sweet potato, peas, corn, pawpaw, tomato, and melons are some of the vegetables you can use to prepare your bird’s chop.
Use two types of vegetables of different colors and textures to make the food appealing to your bird.
Chop For Birds Recipe
Chop can be mixed in large batches, then frozen and later thawed to feed the bird. A proportional amount of dry to wet ingredients is to be used if the chop is to be frozen.
The recipe can be adjusted and customized to:
1. What the bird enjoys most.
2. Availability of the bird chop ingredients during the season.
3. What can be found at the market.
Different recipes can be adopted depending on the type of chop you want for your bird. Your chop can be made as follows:
1. Vegetables only
2. Fruit salad type
3. Beans and grain mix
Chop can be made using different methods, and you can make it simple or as complex as possible.
Simple chops can be made using:
1. One red and one green vegetable
2. A couple of fruits such as apples, oranges, and bananas
Whereas for a complex one, you need to mix various items.
The following recipe can be used to make bird chops:
Ingredients Required With Their Quantity
1. Two dry ingredients: chia seeds and raw oatmeal
2. Two cooked ingredients: lentils, beans and rice
3. Two leafy greens: carrot tops, beet leaves, or collard greens can be used.
4. One fruit: Either an apple, strawberry, mango, coconut or banana
5. Two vegetables: red/ green hot pepper, spinach, broccoli, peas, and kale
6. One sprout: sprouted bird seed, sprouted lentils
7. One topping: coconut flakes, dried fruits
Method
1. Gather All The Ingredients: All the items used to make the chop should be put in place.
Wash all the vegetables and fruits with clean water to remove toxic chemicals.
Pick through the grains to remove any stones.
2. Soak the grains and cook them in advance: Beans and other grains must be soaked for 6-8 hours before cooking. By soaking, the grains soften and make it easy to cook them, and it also helps to remove excess acids.
After the soaking time has elapsed, drain and rinse the beans and grains to eliminate excess sugar.
Cook the grains and beans separately, as their cooking times differ. Drain and rinse the grains, then combine them in one bowl.
Since they are cooked in advance, it is good to store them in the fridge as you prepare the other ingredients.
3. Chop fruits and vegetables into smaller pieces.
4. Mix fruits and vegetables and store them in the fridge.
5. Cook the grains that don’t have to be soaked, like rice.
6. Add oats to absorb moisture. This helps to beat freezer burn by making the chop dry.
7. Mix all the ingredients in a large container. Once ready, refrigerate enough for three days and freeze the remaining chop in small portions.
To feed your bird, defrost the chop overnight, and once thawed, serve it to your bird.
As some birds get fussy when given new food, you can introduce the chop to your bird by:
1. Serve it in your bird’s usual feeding bowl.
2. Mix the chop with your bird’s favorite food.
3. Offer your bird chop bits from your hand.